I think there is something to be said for looking at markets beyond the stocks and stock index markets. Plenty of money has been made in the bonds, eurodollars, currencies, energies, meats, grains and softs over the years. In fact, until the 90's, the stock market was not really regarded as very exciting, compared to these commodity markets where you could literally make a fortune over the summer. Anyone remember "beans in the teens"?

Yes, you can make plenty of money trading ags. It's funny how CNBC goes on and on about how people lost money in the tech bubble. We hear about people longing for the good 'ol days of high volatility. How many average investors know that the high volatility they're dreaming of is present every year in the commodity markets. Maybe that's because CNBC gives it only 5 minutes at the end of each hour. We don't hear too much about the fortune people could have made this year trading live hogs.
Just one more reason to hate CNBC.

Originally posted by Snake Plisken arizona
Yes, you can make plenty of money trading ags. It's funny how CNBC goes on and on about how people lost money in the tech bubble. We hear about people longing for the good 'ol days of high volatility. How many average investors know that the high volatility they're dreaming of is present every year in the commodity markets. Maybe that's because CNBC gives it only 5 minutes at the end of each hour. We don't hear too much about the fortune people could have made this year trading live hogs.
Just one more reason to hate CNBC.
Snake

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just imagine the investor turned commodities trader that finds out his contracts, which settle tommorrow, must be settled with a delivery of 200 live hogs.

The active contract now is the 'lean' hogs, and they are cash settled, so delivery isn't a worry.

To Arizona:

It's a high risk form of investing. Take your time learning about and getting into these markets. Mistakes can be very painful.

I would recommend that you go to the library and read a book called "The Commodity Trading Manual" published by the Chicago Board of Trade. Many universities use it as a textbook for a Futures 101 course. Consider this book lesson one, chapter one in your commodity education.

What's your thoughts on some of these established FCM's offering FX trading? (a few even have FDIC insurance.) Do you think the time for retail FX traders in the US (since the CFMA of 2000) is here or should we wait and see what develops?

I do have some very limited experience trading different futures. I didn't mean to sound like an expert-I'm not. I was in the same boat as arizona last year. I knew some guy who made money trading soybeans and bought a car with the profits. I thought that was cool. I traded small lots through an online broker but the contracts were pit traded(although I think you can trade hogs on Globex now-not sure-probably illiquid). I was position trading, not daytrading, with wide stops. Generally, spreads are wider and markets less liquid compared to emini now. I was pretty much just trading off support-resistance patterns. I didn't really know what the hell I was doing, but I did make money. I really should have just gone to the emini but it worked out ok.

Then I had the brilliant idea of taking the profits and trying to pick bottoms in some nasdaq stocks. That didn't work out so well but I'm still in the black. I certainly wasn't trying to imply that trading ags is easier or less risky, just that it's often ignored. Trading futures is always high risk. Some people who traded the volatile, thin float, high risk internet stocks act like that kind of action is gone, but it's always been in the futures.

The average investor who got killed in the nasdaq should probably avoid commodities, or they'll just get killed again.

Yes, I should have said lean hogs instead of live hogs. Maybe I was thinking of live cattle. Either way, they smell like shit and are a mess to clean up after.